I almost missed the sign as I hurried to get dressed and leave the preparation room: “Please be mindful of cleanliness and leave the room as you found it.”
Of course, I didn’t need to see the sign; I always try to be considerate and to not leave a mess behind me. It was not always so, however. I cringe when I think back a decade to my early years as a mikvah-goer. I am sure I occasionally left rooms without making sure they were clean. Not because I didn’t care, or because I felt entitled to have others clean up after me. I just wasn’t a neat or organized person, and wasn’t very aware of my surroundings. Add to that the distraction of rushing home after immersing, and the nervous mindset of a new bride, and the result was self-absorption. Looking back, I hope I did not make a mess for the mikvah staff to take care of. I hope I didn’t make anyone’s job harder. But I probably did. [Read more…]
That lady at the mikvah…She caught my eye and I just stood there staring.
I had been treating a young woman, married for eight months, who was referred to my practice because all attempts at intercourse were painful, and their marriage was still unconsummated. After a few months of physical therapy, she was making excellent progress. One day, her husband called me to discuss his wife’s treatment. After attaining consent from my patient to discuss our sessions with her husband, I spoke with him on the phone one afternoon. I described his wife’s course of treatment and progress toward her goals. I reassured him that she was doing well, and that she was on track to meet all of her goals for treatment. Sensing our conversation was drawing to a close, he pleaded,”Please, just one more question…”
This week’s Parsha, Parshat Tazria, begins with the purity and impurity laws of a yoledet, a woman who gives birth. A woman postpartum, according to the Torah, goes through two time periods: one with a stricter set of laws in which she is unable to be with her husband or to visit the mikdash and a second one in which she is unable to enter the mikdash, yet is allowed to be with her husband. (Nowadays, the laws are different due to Rabbinic decrees, of which I will not elaborate on in this dvar torah.) The postpartum impurity varies in length between a woman who has a baby boy and a woman who has a baby girl. When a woman gives birth to a boy, she is tamei for seven days and prohibited from visiting the mikdash for an additional 33 days. When a woman gives birth to a girl, she is tameifor 14 days and prohibited from visiting the mikdash for an additional 66 days. Many commentators tackle the obvious question: why is there a difference between the lengths for a girl and a boy?